Estepona Orchidarium (Orquidario de Estepona)

The orchid house was commissioned by Estepona town council as part of the town's "Estepona, jardín de la Costa del Sol" programme. It was built in the old town, along Calle Terraza, on land previously occupied by an agricultural cooperative.

The design was entrusted to the brothers Fernando and Gustavo Gómez Huete of Huete Arquitectos. Construction was carried out by the contractor Bonifacio Solís, while the Madrid firm Celimac installed the glazed envelope, using glass supplied by the Spanish manufacturer Tvitec.

The building opened on Saturday 28 March 2015, at the start of Easter week. According to the glass supplier, it recorded some 35,000 visits in its first seven days. In March 2017 the flowering of a titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) in the collection was reported by the regional press.

The orchidarium celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2025. It now receives more than 40,000 visits a year and presents itself as the largest orchid collection in Spain and one of the most significant in Europe.

The building covers about 1,000 m² and encloses an interior volume of roughly 15,000 m³. It is made up of three transparent domes of different sizes, the largest standing 30 m from floor to apex.

Inside, the space is arranged on two levels, divided and linked by a bamboo forest. Beneath the main dome a large waterfall feeds a pool; the architects and the façade manufacturer give its height as 15 m, Spanish Wikipedia as 17 m. A wall 12 m high carries more than 200 m² of vertical gardens across five tiers, and the water features help maintain the humidity the plants require.

The envelope is assembled from more than five hundred pieces of laminated glass in assorted geometric shapes, using a coated glass that combines solar control with thermal insulation (AGC Sunergy Clear). It is held in a lightweight aluminium curtain-wall system by Alugom, fitted with projecting opening vents. The designers describe it as an avant-garde building conceived to be climatically sustainable.

The collection numbers more than 5,000 plants, among them over 1,300 orchid species, chiefly from South America and South-East Asia. The official website states that around 125 species are in flower at any one time, so the display is in constant change throughout the year.

A dedicated section is given over to miniature orchids. Plants singled out by the architects at the tenth anniversary include Phalaenopsis gigantea, Angraecum sesquipedale and the hybrid Fredclarekara After Dark.

The house also holds a titan arum, Amorphophallus titanum, whose brief and infrequent flowering took place in March 2017. Bamboo, planted walls and tropical vegetation around the pool and waterfall complete the humid atmosphere beneath the domes.

The orchidarium stands in the historic centre of Estepona, on Calle Terraza, within a botanical park of around 13,000 m² laid out with pools, planted semi-sunken spaces and an open-air stage of 140 m².

Because around a hundred species are always in bloom, any season suits a visit; allow roughly an hour to take in both levels, the bamboo walkway and the outdoor garden. A visit pairs easily with a stroll through the old-town streets that surround the park.